The world's largest high-tech fair, the Cebit, will put the future of work and play on show this week, as the industry unveils its latest gadgets and works to pull itself out of a crippling slump.
The week-long event opening on Thursday in the northern German city of Hanover will showcase next-generation mobile telephone services, hybrid products that wed television sets with computers, and warp-speed Internet connections.
Along with such products that are expected to be ready for roll-out in the coming months, the IT, telecommunications and consumer electronics sectors will also turn the spotlight on the industry's dreamers, showing prototypes of computerized shopping carts, Internet-equipped cars and "interactive" homes.
PHOTO: AFP
"In the future, we will shop differently, sell differently, work differently and live differently" is the motto of this year's Cebit, which is drawing 6,411 exhibitors from 64 countries.
The figure marks the third decline in a row for the fair, stemming from the trauma that has gripped the industry since the "new economy" bubble burst in 2000.
New data, however, indicate the worst is over for the global sector.
Turnover in the IT and telecommunications industries is expected to reach 2.16 trillion euros (US$2.63 trillion) this year, marking an increase of 4.3 percent, then speed up to six percent in 2005, according to a report by the European Information Technology Observatory.
This follows the anemic 0.7 percent growth tallied in 2002 and the 1.4 percent seen last year.
Telecommunications companies, which represent 42 percent of the market worldwide, are expected to drive the recovery.
Recovery
"After a few difficult years, we expect the Cebit to signal a turnaround," said Willi Berchthold, president of Germany's BITKOM industry organization grouping 1,300 computer and telecommunications companies.
"Our sector will recover its role as an engine for economic growth," he said.
After years of struggle and billions of dollars spent, a large-scale introduction of third-generation UMTS cellular phones, capable of providing fast access to the Internet and carrying video images, is now awaited.
Europe's top telecommunications company, Deutsche Telekom, has promised to make a firm announcement on its upcoming UMTS services at the Cebit, following British operator Vodafone's launch of a UMTS data card giving users high-speed Internet access for their laptop computers.
`Holy grail'
Although the technology has often been presented as the industry's holy grail, a recent study by Forrester Research showed that only one European in 10 will be using UMTS services by 2007 and companies would need until 2014 to make a profit on it.
Despite the new-found optimism in the industry, the number of visitors to the fair is expected to fall to about 500,000 this year from 560,000 last year, 674,000 in 2002 and some 850,000 in 2001.
The number of exhibitors has also dropped and heavyweights such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Infineon have bowed out. But the number of foreign companies represented at the fair is on the rise, particularly from Asia.
Taiwan is to send 709 companies to Hanover, the US 222, the UK 198, China 189, South Korea 167 and Hong Kong 140 firms, while Asian visitors are expected to comprise a full 15 percent of the crowd.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people